Nintendo emerges with top-selling systems of 2010, looks ahead to Nintendo 3DS

Business Wire’Great games, great experiences and great value led Nintendo to finish 2010 with the two top-selling video game systems in the United States. The Nintendo DSâ„¢ family of systems finished in first place with more than 8.5 million sold in 2010, while the Wiiâ„¢ system topped all home consoles with more than 7 million sold, according to the NPD Group, which tracks video game industry sales in the United States.

Nintendo sold more than 2.5 million Nintendo DS systems and more than 2.3 million Wii systems in December alone, bringing their lifetime U.S. sales totals to more than 47 million and more than 34 million, respectively.

With the new Nintendo 3DSâ„¢ system set to launch in the United States in March, Nintendo has strong momentum heading into 2011. Nintendo 3DS lets users view 3D images without the need for special glasses. More information about the system will be made available during a Jan. 19 preview event in New York.

“Nintendo has sold more game systems than anyone else for five years running,” said Charlie Scibetta, Nintendo of America’s senior director of Corporate Communications. “Of the quarter billion hardware systems sold in the United States during the past 10 years, Nintendo sold more than half. We look forward to bringing fun new experiences to consumers when Nintendo 3DS launches in March.”

Three of the top five best-selling games of December play exclusively on Nintendo systems. These include Just Dance 2 from Ubisoft at No. 1, Donkey Kong Country Returnsâ„¢ from Nintendo at No. 3 and Disney Epic Mickey from Disney Interactive Studios at No. 4. For all of 2010, 13 of the top 25 best-selling games play on Nintendo systems. This includes two of the top five; five of the top 10; and nine of the top 15.